KC BounD in 2022 We have decided to move back to the Kansas City area! Putting the FL house on the market soon and hope to move in Feb. Please send good vibes for a smooth and grace-filled house sale and move. Thanks!
Read the full newsletter and see a fun cat photo here: https://mailchi.mp/8a052d473861/dec2021 Singing at the Ruins of Pompeii Unbeknownst to me, our tour manager in Italy arranged for me to sing in the ruins of Pompeii in a 2,500-year-old outdoor amphitheater. The first song that came to mind was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." It is a moment I will always remember!
Read the full newsletter and watch the video here: https://mailchi.mp/0281e682c900/nov2021 Sitting with the Unknown
by Cheri Jamison I would wager that the vast majority of adults spend lots of time and energy trying to control life (unconsciously) so they experience the "unknown" as little as possible. Why? Because it's uncomfortable. It can feel unsafe and scary. When I was studying spiritual psychology in grad school, my teachers Drs. Ron and Mary Hulnick would say, "Control is the master addiction... Often people move into a control pattern because the fear underneath losing control is fear of going insane or losing grip on reality." Pretty heavy stuff! Yet, it doesn't have to be that way. A primary tenet of spiritual psychology is "How you go through the issue is the issue." Or said another way, "How you are with yourself as you go through an issue is the issue." It's a matter of attitude, personal awareness, and being gentle with yourself. During this past year+ of massive transition and faced yet again with more changes, I have done my best to practice this approach as I sit with a lot of things that are unclear. Here are some strategies I've been trying:
What I have discovered in all this is that 1) this is all challenging to do and think about, 2) it's a messy process that never looks like I think it will, and 3) I am surprised at what comes forward, especially what's present is simply grieving what I thought would be instead of what currently is. Much of this has been centered around accepting what is. The good news is that I feel like I am growing and maturing through this process. I am choosing to see this time of sitting in the "unknown" as an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, dream anew, and set myself on a path that's more aligned with who I am today, not what I thought might happen in the past. Read the full newsletter here: https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?u=9b2e00bca481b53c14f138017&id=c15925ec3c Witnessing
by Cheri Jamison During my visit with my stepmom in Tennessee over my dad's birthday weekend in July (the first birthday after his passing), she sent me home with my dad's violin and his wedding ring. These personal items of his inspired deep contemplation for me on my drive back to the airport. I wasn't sad, per se, but rather felt a weighty poignancy of witnessing something from beginning to end. I certainly remember when my dad met Janet and when they got married in 2004. I witnessed their love over the course of their 16-year marriage. Just about a year ago, I flew out to Los Angeles for what turned out to be an end-of-life caregiving experience as my dad left his physical form. Now, I know that Janet has her own special ongoing inner relationship to my dad and she still loves him deeply, but the physical expression of their marriage is complete. I got to witness the fullness of that. The only other thing I have to compare that to is witnessing the full life of my cat Rue, from the time she was a kitten to when she passed on at just six years old. I witnessed all of her life in that sweet fur body. I mentioned this to a dear friend and she also understood that feeling. She gave the example of knowing couples who she witnessed fall in love, she was at their wedding, and now they are getting divorced. Whether it's the end of a job, living in an apartment or house, school, or completing a project, the completion marks the end of a chapter, or maybe even a "book" in your life. This feeling is not something that we talk about a lot in normal conversations, but I figure many people experience this-- maybe all of us. It's perhaps part of the grief process, maybe not, but it brings out in me an awareness of the importance of being witnessed, being seen by another. One of my wedding agreements with Ben is, "I am a loving witness to your life." Because so much of day-to-day life is private, quiet, and undocumented, it can disappear into the flowing river of time. It's comforting to know there's at least someone acting as that witness for me. Maybe we has humans need that to feel we matter. It can be as simple as, "I see you. You've touched my life just by being here. Thank you." August 2021- Read full newsletter here: us2.campaign-archive.com/?u=9b2e00bca481b53c14f138017&id=748725fffd Lots of news to share! A new booklet article, podcast interview, and a short blog post on how I "clear and come current." Read it here: https://mailchi.mp/e4deefe652a3/june2021  Long lapse between updates, but literally everything has changed, so here's how I got from Missouri to South Florida in my latest update for March 2021: https://mailchi.mp/5f5f2c7b7807/mar2021  Read Cheri's August 2020 News and a special poem on grieving during the pandemic: http://eepurl.com/ha7f-1  |